Robo-wheels go where caterpillars fear to tread

IT IS often said there’s no point reinventing the wheel, but when it comes to getting rescue robots into and out of avalanches, that may be just what is needed. So say researchers in Japan who have developed an adjustable wheel that can adapt to different kinds of snow conditions.

Robots are increasingly used to locate survivors of disasters such as earthquakes, who can be trapped in places too risky for human rescuers. “But few are applicable to rescue in snow,” says Taro Iwamoto at Ryukoku University in Shiga, Japan. Even caterpillar treads can skid or …